Olympus Rebates

So it's now been 2 months since I sent in my rebate forms. No one ever contacted me about the rebates to tell me there was a problem, but the web site has been indicating for over a month that the lens was being processed and that they haven't received the rebate for the Flash. They were in the same envelope.

I called today to find out what was going on with the rebate, and was told that I was not going to receive a rebate for either product for the following reasons:

1) My UPC bar code for my lens was invalid. It had too many numbers.
2) They lost the rebate form and UPC codes for the Flash, and therefore cannot prove I mailed it in.

I suspect they scanned the Flash UPC code for the Lens rebate and then just chucked everything out the window when they got an error to avoid having to pay.

They received the rebate forms in the warehouse, but there was no one there I could talk to, and that they couldn't do anything in support because they didn't receive the rebates there, it was done in the warehouse. Neither side has any accountability.

She first told me that they weren't Olympus, they were a 3rd party company that got paid to process the rebates. When I asked what their company name was, there was a long pause, then she said "Olympus". She refused to give me her company name or let me talk to a supervisor. She sent me to a voicemail and told me they'd call me back in a few days.

This is my first experience dealing with an Olympus rebate and I am not impressed. As of now it looks like I'm out $350. Does anyone know of another channel I can go through to pursue this matter more?

This is my first experience dealing with an Olympus rebate and I am not impressed. As of now it looks like I'm out $350. Does anyone know of another channel I can go through to pursue this matter more?

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Generally, it seem that unless you make a public stink, they don't pay attention. It's sad, but it seems to be the way customer 'service' works these days. You might try their Facebook page - others with problems have had success using that venue to get attention.

I haven't seen any rebate checks yet
Mine have been "processing" for a while

It is pretty dismal that I can buy the camera from amazon and receive it the next day
But need to wait 2+ months and counting to get the rebate

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I didn't have to call or anything. I just received mine yesterday. I sent my rebate material in around 1st or 2nd week of Dec.

But I did call them ahead of time to ask them how I should mail in the two rebates. One for the accessory and the other for the camera considering both asked for the UPC for the camera. They asked that I send in the serial for the camera with the camera. So that's what I did. Two seperate envelopes, addressed appropriately. The accessory rebate had the camera UPC and accesory UPC, the camera rebate had the camera serial cut from the box, and the accessory UPC. Each was taped to a page instead of loose in the envelope.

Try calling again. Maybe you'll get someone more helpful at a later time. My 12-40 rebate was stuck in limbo because of a missing EM-1 receipt that the instructions never asked for. The person I talked to was helpful and just told me to fax the receipt in. It was mailed the next day. This was the number I called 1-800-953-3098. Hope this helps.

I did all of that, but I put it in the same envelope. It never specified that it had to be in two separate envelopes. It was the same address. I provided everything they asked for, mailed it on time, and sent it to the right address because they confirmed that they received it.

This is simply a matter of some employee not wanting to put any effort into doing their job because something might be slightly different than what he / she was expecting.

I always photo copy my rebates, in case some idiot loses it. Luckily I've never "lost" a rebate, but I did have one held up for a long time once (not Olympus), but after calling and escalating got it sorted out.

I didn't have to call or anything. I just received mine yesterday. I sent my rebate material in around 1st or 2nd week of Dec.

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Ditto here - I got mine a few days ago - mailed in about the same time. But I did call them to follow up because I bought the camera and lens from different retailers and wanted to make sure everything was in order. I got verification that it was fine and it proceeded as hoped, if not as quickly as I'd have liked...

I got a call tonight from the supervisor. She was very friendly and so much more helpful than the first person I talked to. She told me to fax her my receipts tomorrow and they would look into getting the refunds out to me. Thanks for the moral support. I'll keep you guys posted.

In early December, I sent in my completed forms with original receipts and UPC cutouts by mail. In late December, I noticed on the web site that my information had not been received.I called Olympus and they said: my mail had not been received. The person on the phone said she would accept a fax of the details. No problem because I photocopied everything before sending.

Yesterday I received my checks! Or at least that's what I thought. When I opened the letters from Olympus, instead of checks both letters said: no sales receipt provided, so NO REBATE FOR YOU!

They are making this difficult. The letter says I have until 2/14/2014 to mail the receipts again. I still expect to win but not anytime soon.

...Yesterday I received my checks! Or at least that's what I thought. When I opened the letters from Olympus, instead of checks both letters said: no sales receipt provided, so NO REBATE FOR YOU!...

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Update: Talked to the scary sounding Olympus Non-Compliance Department today. They asked me to Fax missing receipts for a second time. Their rationalization: Although the Fax sent in December had all required receipts, my original postal submission did not (it did have all receipts - but no point arguing that now ). Therefore, I need to fax all receipts again. So I just sent the same fax again.

To her credit, the Olympus person called me back to confirm receipt of my Fax and that all information is now in order. She gave me two new tracking numbers and advised me that checks will now be mailed in 6-8 weeks.

I think Olympus, like a lot of other large companies, use rebates to help spur sales, but make collecting on them relatively difficult on the hope that a pretty healthy percentage of people won't be willing to fight through the BS to actually collect. It's an approach that's worked with me at times when the amount was small enough that I deemed it not worth the hassle. For me, $200 is definitely worth the hassle, I hung in there, dotted all I's and crossed all T's and eventually got the check. And while a lot fewer people will just just let $200 slide than, say $20, I'm sure there are quite a few who do. Which is part of what Olympus and others count on.

If they REALLY want to jump start something, they make it an instant rebate and it comes through as a sale price and there's zero hassle at all. But that's not what this is, obviously!

I've never had a rebate that I actually took the time to jump through the hoops on that wasn't eventually paid though. So hang in there and play their game and you'll get the $$$...

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